Lower Uni-Ball Upgrade The...
Lower Uni-Ball Upgrade
The lower Uni-ball conversion replaces the factory lower ball-joints with massive 1-inch Teflon-lined Uni-balls and removes the last trace of ball-joints from the front suspension. This is another universal upgrade than can be installed on any 86-95 Toyota IFS truck. Note the differences in construction between the stock ball-joint on the left and the Total Chaos Uni-ball on the right.
The tapered ball-joint hole...
The tapered ball-joint hole in the lower arm must be drilled out to accept the standard 3/4-inch grade-8 bolt.
Four bolts secure the Uni-ball...
Four bolts secure the Uni-ball cup to the stock lower ball-joint mount on the spindle.
Heim-Jointed Steering Upgrade...
Heim-Jointed Steering Upgrade
These Heim-jointed tie-rods offer a dramatic increase in strength and durability as compared to the stock steering linkage. The standard kit uses extended-length stock tie-rods, which are only as strong as the stock ball-joints.
The optional steering kit...
The optional steering kit includes a pre-formed gusset that welds on to the stock forged outer steering-arm, making a double-shear interface that is much stronger than stock. For optimum weld penetration, we pre-heated the steering-arm with a small propane torch. To properly locate the gusset, we assembled the Heim-joint and hardware and then tack welded the gusset into place. Then we removed the Heim before finishing the welds to avoid melting the Teflon lining. Also supplied with the kit is a tapered reducer that fits into the ball-joint socket to accept a standard 7/16 grade-8 bolt.
The steering kit also requires...
The steering kit also requires drilling the tapered ball-joint holes in the center-link out to accept a standard 5/8-inch grade-8 bolt.
Idler Arm Upgrade This optional...
Idler Arm Upgrade
This optional idler arm upgrade is another component Total Chaos designed to improve steering precision and strength. This heavy-duty Chrom-Moly arm is a universal upgrade and replaces the stock idler arm without any modifications.
Installation We ordered...
Installation
We ordered a pre-fabricated shock tower and pre-bent shock hoop with our kit. The Total Chaos upper shock mounts accommodate any 2.0-or 2.5-inch coil-over shocks and includes mounts for an optional pair of secondary shocks. The mounts may need to be modified slightly depending on application.
After reinstalling the spindle...
After reinstalling the spindle and the new steering linkage, we set the adjustable camber bolts to a neutral position, intending to have the truck realigned immediately after completing the suspension installation. Then we cycled the suspension from full compression to full droop. We compared the eye-to-eye measurements of the shocks to the location of the lower shock mount at full compression and full extension to verify the upper shock-mount placement.
The 2.5x8-inch remote-reservoir...
The 2.5x8-inch remote-reservoir Sway-A-Way Racerunner coil-overs that we chose to run have the shortest eye-to-eye measurements of all the popular 2.5x8-inch stroke coil-over shocks, so we had to remove 1-inch from the shock towers in order to position the shock to attain all of the suspension travel this kit is capable of providing.
The tubular shock-hoop is...
The tubular shock-hoop is an integral part of the Total Chaos long-travel kit and MUST be installed to properly support the bolt-in shock tower. This plate gusset is welded to the forward section of the frame-rail to distribute the load. We prepped the frame and test-fit the gusset, then welded the plate to the frame.
We held the new shock hoop...
We held the new shock hoop in place and carefully traced around the outside of it to mark where the inner fender needed to be cut, removing only as much material as necessary to fit the hoop into place.
Positioning the new droop-stops...
Positioning the new droop-stops properly is critical. They will limit extension travel if they are mounted too high and they'll allow the suspension to over-extend if they're mounted too low, which could damage the suspension. The polyurethane bump-stops will compress slightly, so we planned to shim the bump-stops with fender washers to dial-in the full-extension stopping point. After welding the mounts to the frame, we masked off the new arms and sprayed a few more coats of semi-gloss black paint.
We elongated the compression...
We elongated the compression bump-stop mounting-holes to position the bump-stops where they could make full contact with the new tubular control arms. Then we reinstalled the stock rubber bump-stops.
This optional weld-in truss...
This optional weld-in truss strengthens the IFS sub-frame, which is prone to bending under hard off-road use. The slight bend in the tube allows the front differential to be removed after the brace is welded into place.
Replacing the stock torsion bars with coil-overs (retaining 4WD) is one of the most distinguishing features of the Gen II Caddy Kit and provides enthusiasts with a much wider selection of spring-rates. We selected a pair of 3.0 x 18-inch x 500lb coil-spring for our application. 16-inch coil-springs are often used with 8-inch stroke shocks, but most 16-inch springs over 450lb have less than 8 inches of spring compression, which would result in coil-bind. This meant we had to use 18-inch coil-springs in order to get enough spring compression from free length. The 18-inch springs needed to be compressed about 3/4-inch just to fit onto the shock, which meant that there was no more room to adjust the preload/ride-height. Luckily the final ride-height settled to exactly what we were looking for: about 3 inches over stock.